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«<fc^t^>^ o o «> i» ^ o ^Mth<niiiiirf<>. 



PR.OCDCDINGS 



AT THE 



sEiii-cmEiiAi mmim 



OF THE CONNECTION OF 

\ 



dSl^iJf^ S:f{]v(OI^© W^I<I< 



WITH THE 



Woi'de^tei^ Comity f^fe^^. 



1837 1887. 




Glass. 
Book. 



I 



i'/ 



PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



IKENIIilllL ANmEmD! 



OF THE CONNECTION OF 



mi,%:^ Sf?No]/D wSi,!,, 

((Df Ibc ^(Horccstcr S|jnJ 



WITH THR 



Worcester Coui^ty IVe^^, 

MAY 18th, is 87. 
''ogether with Ccmplimentarij Letters, Notices, &e. 



Morrcstcr, Mass.: 

Press of Damel .Skagrave, 442 AIain Street. 

1887. 



yiliy i§ll), i8§^. 



In response to the invitation of Mr. James H. Wall, about 
one hundred and fifty of the oldest and most honored of the 
citizens of Worcester met in the parlors of the Lincoln House, 
Wednesday evening, May 18th, 1887, to celebrate the fiftieth 
anniversary of the connection of Mr. Caleb A. Wall, the host's 
brother, with the press of Worcester County. It was one of 
the most remarkable gatherings ever held in this city, repre- 
senting those longest and most closely identified with its varied 
interests. It included men from all walks of life, from the 
pulpit, bench, bar, medical faculty, trade, and the shop, com- 
prising an array of veterans in experience and the venerable in 
years seldom if ever before seen together here. 

There were nine gentlemen present over the age of four 
score, the oldest being Mr. Constant Shepard, now in liis 87th 
year, who has been bill collector for the Spy for 35 years. 
The others over 80 included Dr. George Chandler, Henry A. 
Penny, Samuel D. Harding, AVm. T. Merrifield, Samuel Smith, 
Wm. Dickinson, Samuel Davis, and Albert Curtis. 

Tlie newspaper press of the city was fully represented by 
both proprietors and reporters, and there were also present by 
invitation many former co-workers with the chief guest as 
printers. All had a cordial word of greeting for the host and 
chief guest of the evening. 

After an hour or more pleasantly passed in social greetings 
and mutual congratulations in the i)arlors, the large company 
were ushered, a little after eight o'clock, into the dining hall, 



where tables were set in Landlord Tower's best style, for 150 
persons, and every seat was occnpied, 

Hon. John D. Washburn presided at the tables with his 
usual dignity and grace, and the divine blessing was invoked 
by Rev. J. D. E. Jones, the host's former pastor. Tlie other 
persons present, besides those mentioned above, included: 

Hon. George F. Hoar, U. S. Senator ; Hon. W. W. Rice ; Judges P. Em- 
ory Aldrich and Adin Thayer; Hon. Francis H. Dewey, Mayor Samuel 
Winslow, Ex-Mayors Phinehas Ball, Edward L. Davis, Clark Jillson, Chas. 
B. Pratt, Samuel E. Hildreth, and Charles G. Reed ; Sheriff A. B. R. 
Sprague, John S. Baldwin, Charles C. Baldw^in, J. Henry Hill, Charles H. 
Doe, Charles A. Chase, Joseph Mason, Stephen Salisbury, Nathaniel Paine, 
Wm. S. Barton, Samuel S. Green, Edmund M. Barton, J. Evarts Greene, 
Frank P. Goulding, Gen. Josiah Pickett, Col. W. A. Williams, Col. Levi 
Barker, Rev. Charles E. Simmons, Rev. John J. Putnam, Charles P. Ban- 
croft of Boston, George P. Brinley of Hartford, Ct., Calvin Foster, Benja- 
min Walker, Loring Coes, Jos. A. Howland, Jared Whitman, Wm. B. Taber, 
Wm. L. Clark, Henry H. Chamberlin, John C. Newton, Simeon N. Story, 
George C. Taft, Jolin S. Clark, Charles Sibley, George W. Russell, Josiah 
H. Clarke, Edward W. Vaill, Calvin Dyer, Timothy W. Hammond, Charles 
S. Turner, AVm. H. Jourdan, Horace H. Blgelow, Lyman Brooks, Harvey 
B. Wilder, George Sumner, Dr. H. G. Davis, Samuel Woodward, Daniel 
Stevens, Frank B. White, A. G. Walker, Charles F. Stevens, Edward F. Bis- 
00, Henry E. Hill, A. Beaman Lovell, James T. Bryant, Addison Macullar, 
A. C. Munroe, Wm. Lucas, Geo. H. Clark, Alfred Holden, George Tower, 
James Broadbent, A. E. Peek, G. Edward Smith, Henry W. Eddy, George 
A. Stevens, J. Edwin Benchley, Samuel R. Heywood, Ellery B. Crane, 
Thomas M. Rogers, Granville A. Longley, Dr. E. W. Sweet, George F. Wall, 
James H. Wall, 3d, George R. Kennedy, James W. Bigelow, James H. Mel- 
len, S. Hamilton Coe, Geoi-ge A. Stearns, Jr., John H. Jewett, Henry L. 
Shumway, Freeman Brown, Wm. C. Gale, Eugene F. Swan, Eugene M. 
Moriariy, Rev. Albert Tyler of Oxford, Edward R. Fiske, Daniel Seagrave, 
James L. Estey, Elias T. Bemis, Charles Hamilton, Benjamin J. Dodge, 
Theodore H. Bartlett, and W. A. Cheney. . 

On the table in front of the chief guest of the evening, was 
a large basket of different varieties of flowers, in the centre of 
which were fifty pinks bearing the numerals " 50," presented 
by his neice and nephew, Mv. and Mrs. Sumner W. Balcom, 
and daughter, of Boston. 

After ample justice had been done to the excellent supper, 
a little past nine o'clock, Col. Washburn rapped to order, saying 



5 

the occasion was one of j)cculiar significance ; it was not a po- 
litical or a literary uathering, hut its key-note was warm-hearted 
greeting and good fellowship. He first presented the host of 
the evening, Mr. James H. Wall of Boston. After the ap- 
plause had ceased, the host expressed his thanks for the nu- 
merous responses to his invitation and his pleasure in welcom- 
injr those [»rescnt, in thus marking an important mile-stone in 
the life of his brother, who, he said fully deserved such a testi- 
monial, for whose benefit it was arranged. He then gave some 
reminiscences of his own life in Worcester, saying he came 
here from Leicester fifty years ago last February, bringing with 
him as his only wealth 6^ cents, adding, " and there it is," dis- 
playing as he said this, an old fashioned " four penny bit," 
which he had always preserved as a memento of those times. 
He was a shoemaker, and prospered by strict application to his 
business. He exhibited a little box trunk in which he carried 
his valuables to and from the shop daily, saying it was his first 
safe, and it contained every tax bill he had paid in Worcester. 
He referred to the prominent lawyers, business men, etc., in 
active life here when he first came, whose names were so fam- 
iliar to his gray haired hearers, but he said he was not old fo- 
gyisli enough to complain that the old times were the best ; 
or that we could not vsup|)ly the places of the able men of the 
past. Worcester to-day, he said, has abundant material to fill 
the vacancies of the dcjiarted ones, adding, " and there is a 
good representation of what Worcester has now got here to- 
night," and no city in the worM is better equipped in all that 
tends to honor and prosperity. He said he loved Worcester, 
and intended returning here again, and when the time came 
he hoped to make this his last resting place. 

The chief guest of the evening, Mr. Caleb A. Wall, was then 
called upon and greeted with j)rolongcd applause. He resi)ond- 
ed in an address of reminiscences of his fifty years experience, 
as follows : 



MR. WALL'S ADDRESS- 



On a well remembered lovely spring m(»rning, fifty years 
ago, April ITth, 1837, when I was a boy of sixteen, and Wor- 
cester had a population of about seven thousand, I began my 
apprenticeship to the printing and newspaper business in the 
office of the ^py, with which paper I have most of the time ever 
since been connected, in different capacities. My parents had 
removed to Worcester the year previous from Greenville, Leices- 
ter, where I was born, and when I entered the Spy office I had 
just completed a three years course at the Friends School in Prov- 
idence, R. I. The office had just been removed from the second 
story in Wm. Eaton's (now Dr. Barnard's) block next south 
of the old Central Church, to the two tipper stories of the 
south end of Brinley Block, then just erected by Benjamin 
Butman, and named after his friend and patron, George Brin- 
ley, senior, of Hartford, Ct., whose grandson, George P. Brin- 
ley, is with us to-night. Mr. Butman, who was one of the 
most enterprising business men of his time in Worcester, had 
then also just erected, on the opposite or south side of the old 
Worcester House, (now Lincoln House) tlie granite front block 
of similar size and style which he named Butman Block ; the 
then handsome semi-circular park in front of the old Worces- 
ter House being between them. These two then new struc- 
tures, Brinley and Butman Blocks, or " Rows," as tliey used to 
be more generally called, were for many years the most im- 
posing business structures in Worcester and occupied by the 
leading business firms of the town. Both the Worcester House 
and the American Temperance House, on opposite sides of 
Main street, iiad then just been remodeled and opened as the 
two leading hotels of the town, the former having previously 
been the residence of Gov. Lincoln and the latter of Hon. Al- 
fred D. Foster. Lysandcr C. Clark, a brother of Wm. C. 
Clark who then kept the old United States Hotel where the 
Walker Building now is, was then landlord of the old Worces" 



ter House, and Eleazer Porter of the American Temperance 
House. As to tlie first occupants of the two new blocks, T. 
W. and C. P. Bancroft, auctioneers and furniture dealers, had 
the store in Brinley Block next north of the Spy office, and 
next north of the Bancrofts was the store of Moses D. Phillip«, 
afterwards of the well rememl)cred hook-publishing- firm of 
Phillips, Sampson, & Co., in Boston. The northern-most store 
in Butman Block was first occupied byWm., Edwin B.,and Sam- 
uel T. Coc, apothecaries, sons of Dca. John Coe who kept an 
apothecary store in the old " compound " building on the cor- 
ner of Main and Front streets ; and in the third story of the 
north end of Butman Block, T. \V. and J. Butterlield began 
printing in June, 1839, the National ^gis, which establish- 
ment they had purchased of Henry Rogers, the latter having 
renewed Jan. 24th, 1838, in the attic of Dr. Green's building, 
the printing of the former paper of that name which was dis- 
continued in 1830. 

.The Spy was then published by that representative Quaker 
of his time, John Milton Earle, as editor and proprietor. The 
only other newspapers published here in 1837 were, the Palla- 
dium by John S. C. Knowlton in Dr. Green's building over 
Clarendon Harris's book store, and the Republican by Jubal 
Harrington, then postmaster, in the old Central Exchange 
building ; the Republican being the democratic organ, in which 
office Maj. Ben : Perley Poore was the youngest apprentice or 
" Printer's Devil " when I came. Martin Van Buren had then 
just taken his seat as President of the United States, and Ed- 
ward Everett was Governor of this State. 

Of our town officials that year. Col. Isaac Davis was Chair- 
man of the Boards of Selectmen and Assessors, his associates 
as Selectmen being Luther Burnett, Jr., Dea. Nathaniel Stow- 
ell, Joseph Converse, Benjamin Flagg, Samuel Banister, and 
Jubal Harrington, and the Assessors with Col. Davis were 
Capt. Lewis Bigelow and Timothy Keith. Charles A. Hamil- 
ton was Town Clerk and William Greenleaf, Treasurer and 
Collector of Taxes. The town constables were Asa Mathews, 
Clarendon VVheelock, Lyman Whitcomb, Wm. R. Wesson, Col. 



8 

Warner Hinds, John F. Clark, Samuel R. Jackson, Gordon 
Gould, Luther Gapron, Seth Fisher, Joel Wilder, Danforth H. 
Bundy, Charles P. Bancroft, and Col. Ivers Phillips. The 
School Committee were Rev. Jonathan Aldrich of the First 
Baptist Ciiurch, Rev. Jonathan E. Woodbridge of the Union 
Church, Rev, John T. Burrill of the Methodist, Dea. Ichabod 
Washburn, Edwin Conant, Wm. N. Green, Marchant Tobey, 
and Wm. Lincoln. The eight Representatives in the General 
Court that year were Gen. Thomas Chamberlain, Wm. Lincoln , 
Thomas Kinnicutt, Dea. John Goe, David Wadsworth, Gen. 
Ebenezer L. Barnard, Edward H. Hemenway, and Benjamin 
Goddard, 2d. Charles Allen represented Worcester in the 
State Senate, Gov. Lincoln this district in Congress, and Gov. 
John Davis represented us in the United States Senate, side by 
side with that grand triumvirate of American Statesmen, 
Webster, Clay and Calhoun, then in the very zenith of their 
power and eloquence. There were, indeed, "giants in those 
days," but we need not fear that the interests of our beloved 
Commonwealth will lack adequate defence and advocacy in the 
National Councils, so long as the mantles of Worcester's hon- 
ored Senator and Representative of fifty years ago rest on the 
shoulders they now do. 

How freshly and vividly to view, in my mind's eye, on this 
occasion, come the forms and features of the veterans of fifty 
years ago, as they walked our streets and followed their respec- 
tive occupations. Of the county officials at that time, there 
was the courtly mannered and genial high sheriff, Calvin Wil- 
lard, as graceful and dignified as he was firm and punctilious ; 
that model official. Col. John W. Lincoln, Chairman of the 
Board of County Commissioners, and afterwards sheriff, who 
never was afraid to assume the responsibilities of any position 
he held ; the keen-eyed and eloquent district attorney. Col. 
Pliny Merrick, afterwards judge ; the courteous and benig- 
nant faced County Treasurer, Anthony Chase ; the urbane 
Judge of Probate, Ira M. Barton, and Register, Charles G. 
Prentiss, both of whom had then just succeeded, in their re- 
spective positions, Nathaniel Paine and Theophilus Wheeler ; 



9 

tlie sedate and stern visaged Artemas Ward, Register of Deeds ; 
tlie accomplished Clerk of the Courts, Joseph G. Kendall, and 
his well remembered Assistant, Wm. Jejinison ; and tlie Crier, 
Silas Brooks, who was succeeded in 1838 by Gen. Thomas 
Chamberlain. It is a sad and solemn reflection on the great 
changes of halfa century that of all the officials al)Ovc named, na- 
tional, state, county, and town, whose countenances were so fam- 
iliar to me fifty years ago, only three now survive, our esteemed 
fellow citizen, Edwin Conant, Escj., a member of our School 
Board in 1837 ; and Col. Ivers Phillij)s, now of Colorado, and 
Charles P. Bancroft, Esq., of Boston, the only survivors of our 
constabulary force of that year, of whom the last named, Mr. 
Bancroft, we are happy to greet with us here to-night. 

Of the members of our first Board of Mayor and Aldermen in 
1848, the only survivor is James S. Woodworth ; and of the 
first Common Council, AH)ert Curtis, Wm. T. IMei'rilield, Cal- 
vin Foster, and Benjamin F. Stowell, and the Clerk, Wm. A. 
Smith, are the only survivors, of whom three, Messrs. Curtis, 
Merrifield, and Foster, are present. 

During my apprenticeship occurred the ever memorable and 
never to be equaled " Log Cabin and Hard Cider " political 
campaign of 1840, the battle cry of which was " Tippecanoe 
and Tyler too." June 17th of that year assembled in Wor- 
cester the largest gathering of people that had ever then been 
held in Massachusetts, and certainly the most remarkable one 
in all her political history ; large delegations with log cabins 
on wheels coming in from all sections of the county and out- 
side. It was a state convention, which transferred Honest 
John Davis from the United States Senate again to the guber- 
natorial chair which he had before occupied in 1835. Of those 
who took part in the proceedings of that day I find but very 
few survivors, among them the Hon. Rol)crt C. Winthrop, 
chairman of the committee on resolutions of tiiat convention. 
The venerable Edmund J. Mills of Sutton, now in his 96th 
year, and Hon. James W^ .Jenkins of I>arre, are the only sur- 
vivors of the numerous corps of marshals of that day, headed 
by Col. John W. Lincoln as chief marshal, in charge of the 



10 

immense procession whicli marclied from the old common to 
the huge log cabin on Stephen Salisbury's grounds on Grove 
street, where the convention was held ; and our venerable fel- 
low citizen, Mr. Joseph Pratt, now in his 89th year, is the only 
survivor of the committee of seven, consisting of himself and 
Wm. A. Wheeler, Harrison Bliss, George Hobbs, Alpheus 
Merrifield, J. L. Edwards, and Timothy W. Bancroft, under 
whose direction the log cabin was built. It was located on the 
spot covered by the last extension southward of the works of 
the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company on the east 
side of Grove street. 

My first departure from the " hive " of the Spy was made 
in July 1844, when, with Rev. Albert Tyler and another then 
compositor on the Spy, Abner B. Hardy, I went to Barre to 
start another whig paper in that section of the county, to off- 
set the influence of the then democratic organ there, the 
" Barre Gazette," published and edited at that time by Walter 
A. Bryant. Wm. A. Wallace, the then foreman of the Spy 
office, went with us and staid one week, till after the first is- 
sue, July 26, to set the new paper, which was called the " Barre 
Patriot," well on its way. The Gazette called it the " Spy 
Northwest Branch." It was started in pursuance of a general 
consultation among the leading whigs of that section of the 
county, most prominent among whom was Hon. James W. 
Jenkins of that town. Nahum F. Bryant, brother of Walter 
A., had tiie editorial management, and Mr. Tyler the charge 
of the business, general news and typographical departments 
of the new paper. During the first five issues, J. Henry Hill, 
Esq., was associate editor with Mr. Bryant, till Sept. 1, when 
Mr. Hill removed to Worcester to go into partnership with 
that brilliant lawyer, the late Judge Thomas, grandson of the 
founder of the Spy. During the year and a half that I re- 
mained in Barre as compositor on the " Patriot," I w\ns a con- 
tributor ad libitum to its editorial columns on political and oth- 
er questions, generally coining my ideas with type as I went 
along from hastily written uQtes on scraps of paper before me. 



11 

The year 1844 was the time of the celebrated Henry Clay 
campaign, the first one in wliich 1 took an active part, and I 
entered into it quite enthusiastically, on paper. Most of us 
remember the old war cry of that campaign, 

" Hurrali ! hurra li ! tlie country's risin' 
For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen." 

The northern whigs, and especially those of Massachusetts^ 
entered into it heart and hand on the issue of opposition to the 
annexation of Texas as a slave state, and everything went on 
swimmingly in our favor till that unfortunate Alabama letter 
from Mr. Clay reached the north, in which he said he should be 
'* glad to see " Texas annexed, and this had the same damag- 
ing effect upon the ]K"ospects of the gallant '' Harry of the 
West," that Dr. Burchard's unwise " Rum, Romanism and Re- 
bellion speech " had upon the pros))ects of the great republican 
leader in 1884, the great ^tate of New York holding the balance 
of power and turning the scale in both instances. 

After my labors on the old " Barre Patriot," I became again 
connected with the Spy as a compositor and in other ways, the 
starting of the daily and the coming on of the free soil move- 
ment, in which I took active interest, affording me a field for 
congenial labors in the newspaper line, and I think I can mod- 
estly say that I furnished a goodly share of that " firing up " 
of public sentiment on the slavery question which resulted in 
the organization of a separate national party on the issue of 
opposition to slavery, after the pro-slavery element in the old 
whig party had forced upon us the nomination of Gen. Taylor, 
and the democratic party had performed a similar act of sub- 
serviency to the slave power in the nomination of Gen. Cass. 
The Spy naturally became the organ of the now party of free- 
dom from the start. I had here, also, the advantage at that 
time of being my own compositor in what I furnished for the 
press. The first political speech I remember to have rej)orted 
was a sketch of the one made by John P. Halo in our old town 
hall Oct. 13, 1846, after his election as United States senator 
from New Hampshire by the combined votes of the whigs and 
liberty party men in the legislature in opposition to the Pierce 



12 

democracy, Avhich had, till then, ruled that state. How the el- 
oquent sou of the Granite State made the arches of that hall 
ring on that occasion ! 

The great free soil campaign of 1848 deserves some notice 
here in reference to its origin. The movement, as before said, 
arose out of the opposition to both the two old parties, on ac- 
count of their alleged subserviency to slavery in the presiden- 
tial iiominations they had made. Four persons, previously of 
the whig party, All)ertTolman, Henry H. Chamberlin, Wm. A. 
Wallace and Oliver Harrington, well representing the domi- 
nant political feeling in Worcester in reference to the obnox- 
ious nominations, were specially instrumental in organizing 
that sentiment into action, and it found its first public expres- 
sion in a meeting at the City Hall, Wednesday evening, June 
21, 1848, at which Albert Tolmau, Esq., presided, and Wm. A. 
Wallace, then foreman in' the Spy office, was secretary, and 
George W. Russell, Henry B. Chamberlin, Oliver Harrington, 
Edward Southwick, and Joseph Boyden were appointed a com- 
mittee to nominate a list of persons to act as a committee of 
arrangements for the state convention, to be held one week 
later, June 28, at the same place. The names thus reported 
and adopted included, l)esides those above mentioned, Charles 
Allen, Alexander DeWitt, Charles Washburn, Thomas A. 
Clark, John C. Mason, Rufus D. Dunbar, Edward Hamilton, 
James F. Allen, Edward H. Hemenway, John C. Newton, Ben- 
jamin E. Hutchinson, Peregrine B. Gilbert, Enoch Hall, Sam- 
uel Davis, John C. Wyman, Dr. H. G. Darling, Joseph A. Gil- 
bert, Albert P. Ware, Charles Hadwen and Augustus Tucker, 
many of whom are with us tonight. At this meeting the first 
steps were taken here for the organization of that great party 
of freedom which subsequently ruled the country for 25 years, 
and addresses were made on this occasion by Hon. Charles Al- 
len and Gen. Henry Wilson, in support of their action in re- 
pudiating the nomination of their party at Philadelphia, where 
they acted as delegates, and their action there was most enthu- 
astically sustained at this meeting. Judge Allen and Henry 
Wilson were the leaders of the movement in this state, with 



IS 

such able coadjutors as Charles Francis Adams, Samuel Hoar, 
Horace Mann, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles Sumner, John G. 
Palfrey, Erastus Hopkins, John ]\[ilt()n Earle, Francis W. Bird, 
and others of like ability and previous {>olitical standing. Here 
I must be indulged in an interesting reminiscence of what 
took place near the close of that meeting, when Rev. George 
Allen, a brother of the judge, came in from the state hospital, 
where he had been detained by i\is duties as chaplain, and took 
a front seat near inc. After the regular resolutions of the 
meeting, sustaining the action of Judge Allen and Gen. Wilson, 
had been reported and adopted, he offered from memory that 
remarkable resolution which has since acquired such notoriety 
for its expressiveness: " Resolved, that Massachusetts weai^ 
no chains, and spurns -all bribes ; that Massachusetts goes now, 
and will ever go, for free soil and free men, for free lips and a 
free press, for a free land and a free world." This sentiment 
was received with so much favor that the author of it was re- 
quested to commit it to writing, which he did in exactly the 
same words, after which it was adopted with unl)ounded enthu- 
siasm, and subsequently adopted by various meetings and con- 
ventions during that campaign, including the Massachusetts 
state convention held here the following week ; and the main 
sentiment of the resolution was incorporated in the platform of 
the national free soil convention, held in August following at 
Buffalo, where Martin A^an Buren and Charles Francis Adams 
were nominated for president and vice-president ; and its lead- 
ing doctrine has since become a part of the Constitutioii of the 
United States. 

Against the party thus organized was arrayed the influence 
of most o( the leading men of the time in Worcester, includ- 
ing Ex-Govs. Lincoln and Davis, Judges Barton, Kinnicutt, 
Washburn and Thomas, Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, and others, 
whose eloquence, as well as that of Judge Allen and others on 
his side, was often heard in the old city hall, the principal 
combatants there during that memorable campaign being Gov. 
Lincoln and Judge Allen, on opposite sides. Of course, this 
is no proj>er occasion for the expression of opinion as to the 



14 

relative merits, either of the great arguments contained in the 
able speeches by the two distinguished gentlemen alluded to, 
or of the vast question then in issue, the discussion of which 
soon spread over tlie whole country, and ended finally only in 
the falling of the last shackle from the limbs of the last slave 
in the land. The motives which actuated these two eminent 
men, honored representatives of their time and generation, 
can never be impeached, founded as they were upon principles 
of action adopted after long experience by both of them in 
public affairs. Both, '■' natives and to the manner born," had 
at different periods represented the same constituency honora- 
bly and faithfully in both the state and national councils, as 
had also their honored sires before them. No two men were 
more warmly attached friends daring their last years, and like 
Adams and Jefferson, after the settlement of the great ques- 
tion, the discussion of which had made them for a time politi" 
eal antagonists, old animosities being forgotten, they went 
to their last reward with the general benediction, " well done, 
good and faithful public servants." Gov. Lincoln died May 29^ 
1868, aged 86, and Judge Allen August 6, 1869, aged 71. 

Did time permit, I might relate some interesting incidents 
Gonnected with the long and exciting public controversies aris- 
ing out of the passage of the fugitive slave law in 1850, Ne- 
braska bill in 1854, and other pro-slavery measures, including 
the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court in 1856, on 
which questions I bad a good deal to say in print, and did 
more or less bes-ides, in the way of getting np public meetings- 
for the expression and furtherance of the general sentiment of 
the people against those enormities. The speakers at those 
meetings include many who afterwards became prominent in 
our state and national affairs, and some of them guided the 
legislation of our state and country during the most critical 
period of our history. In this connection,! cannot resist brief 
allusion to an exciting time— -Oct, 28, 29 and 30, 1854, when 
Asa 0. Batman, Deputy United States Marshal under President 
Pierce, was in Worcester, for the purpose, as was generally 
understood 7 of securing an escaped slave named Wui. H. Jan- 



lo 

kins, who had then resided here 11 years in the prosGCiition of 
his calling as a barber, and who is still an honored and re- 
spected citizen among us. 

Soon as it became known that Batman was here for the sus- 
pected purpose of arresting a fugitive slave, and tliat fugitive 
a citizen of so long standing here, such was the general feeling 
of the peoj)lc that Butman found that his safest place for pro- 
tection was the police office, at the cast end of the city hall, to 
which place he was taken on the charge of carrying concealed 
weapons, and from which place he was escorted on Monday 
morning, Oct. 30, down Front street to the railroad station, 
walking between the protecting arms of several prominent 
abolitionists, some of whom are now present, who shielded 
him from the violence tiiat was offered him on the way by the 
surrounding crowd of indignant citizens that followed them to 
the depot, whence Butman departed for Boston, having pledged 
himself never to come here again on such business. 

And now, about the " Underground Railroad," of which so 
much used to be said. I did not have quite so much to do 
with that as some others, but there was an "above ground 
railroad," leading toward the " north star," of which I would 
like to say a word, inasmuch as it was, during those exciting 
fugitive slave law times, in charge of a thoroughgoing demo- 
crat as superintendent, the predecessor in his office of the vet- 
eran ex-president of that road who is with us tonight. That 
superintendent was our former fellow citizen, (teorge W. I?ent- 
ley, now general manager of the Jacksonville, Tampa and 
Key West Railway of Florida. He was chairman of the Wor- 
cester democratic city committee during the campaign which 
resulted in the election of President Pierce. He had a big 
heart, whatever may be said of his politics. He made me the 
standing offer to put through to Canada over his line, by night 
or by day, all fugitives from slavery whom E might bring to hia 
notice in Worcester awaiting conveyance, and if necessary, on 
account of their numbers, he said he would put on extra cars, 
and even run an extra train if the fugitives could not be ac- 
commodated without it in their rapid exit northward. One 



16 

particulai' time on which I called upon ^tr. Bentley at the dead 
of niglit, in pursuance of this generous ofifer, is too good not 
to be mentioned. It was for a pass for a colored woman, just 
from the jaws of slavery and trembling in fear of some kid- 
napping deputy marshal. I rang Mr. Beutley's door bell at 
his then residence on High street, and sent to him my written 
i-^quest by a servant who came to the door. Soon came back 
a note to the conductor in these emphatic words : " Pass the 
bearer, Black Republican, as far north as you can get her, 
God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from all such in- 
habitants." It is needless to add that the fugitive went on her 
way rejoicing by the early 6.30 A. M. train over the Nashua 
road for Canada, in charge of the veteran conductor, Lyman 
Brooks, who is here tonight and will testify to the fact. Of 
course the adjective " such " used above had reference to the 
condition of servitude, and not of color. The expression 
" Black Republican " reminds me of the introduction I had by 
my old democi-atic friend, the late Creorge W. Gill, to Stephen 
A. Douglas in 1860, when that distinguished champion of 
" Squatter Sovereignty " was on his electioneering tour through 
New England during the quadrangular presidential contest of 
that year. Mr. Gill, Col. Barker, Mr. Bentley, and other 
prominent democrats of this city had invited me, as a repre- 
sentative of the press, to accompany them to Nashua, N. H., 
where they were to meet Mr. Douglas on his way from the 
north. In the car with him on the special train to Worcester, 
which was under the charge of Superintendent Bentley, after 
all the others of the party had been presented, Mr. Gill, 
whose voice was as loud as his heart was large, said to me in 
his usual genial, though rather commanding manner, '* Come, 
let me introduce you to Mr. Douglas." In acceptance of 
the invitation, I was presented to the great democratic chief- 
tain in these characteristic words, " Mr. Douglas, hero is the 
blackest black republican in Worcester county." 

Proudly accepting the appellation as a high compliment, I 
improved the opportunity, in the conversation which ensued 
between us, to say to Mr, Douglas that I was a truer and more 



17 

staunch democrat ami popular sovereignty man tlian he, inas- 
mucli as lie cxchidcd a portion of tlie people from having a 
voice in their own " sovereignty " on account of their color, 
wliile my democracy included the whole people, irrespective of 
color. For his defense, Mr. Douglas fell hack upon the Dred 
Scott decision, which maintainctl that " the negro had no rights 
which a white man was hound to respect.'" In ref)ly, I told 
him that, lil<e Andrew Jacl<son, I construed the constitution 
for myself, and not from the Supreme Court, having (ull confi- 
dence that the people would soon ])urge the country of the 
foul anti-democratic doctrine attempted to he forced upon us 
by Chief Justice Taney. Mr. Gill, fearing, it may he, the 
effect which such " black republican " views as I was express- 
ing might have upon his presidential nominee, said at this 
point, " Come, you have had ]\fr. Douglas long enough, the 
rest of us want to talk with him." 

For two years or so during the war there was another hiatus 
in my connection with the Spy, when 1 published the Worces- 
ter Daily Transcript, of which I was proprietor, editor, report- 
er and business manager, and I did perhaps as well as might 
be expected under the circumstances with such multifarious 
duties on my hands. Rather than incur the financial responsi- 
bilities of enlargement and the needed increase of helj) which 
became absolutely necessary, I sold out Jan. 1st, 186(3, to the 
predecessors of the present proprietors of the Evening Ga- 
zette, Charles H. Doe Sc Co., and soon afterwards resumed my 
connection with the old "hive" from which 1 had strayed, 
having since divided my newspaper lal)ors between reportiu"- 
and sundry kinds of local historical writing. 

In this cursory reference to a record of fifty years, I lay no 
claim to having done anything striking, or marked. I have 
not been able, like tlie great printer, Franklin, to organize 
states, to draw down the lighting from the skies, or to set in 
motion the rolling thunder in the heavens. But I iiave tried 
to do something, in my humlile way, for the cause of human 
improvement, for the elevation of the down-trodden and en- 
slaved, and for the promotion of some other of the great re- 
forms so nmch needed to be brought about in the world. 



Mr. Wall's address was frequently interrupted by applause, 
and at its conclusion the clapj^ing was loud and long con- 
tinued. 

Col. Washliurn then read the following letter, prefacing it 
by tlie remark, that almost at the very moment of its reception 
here, the sad telegraphic news came of the writer of it being 
suddenly stricken down with serious, and it was then feared, 
fatal illness.* 

FROM MAJ. BEN : PERLEY POORE. 

Washington, D. C.,May 16, '87. 

Caleb A. Wall, Esq.; My Dear Sir — I have hoped that I might be one of 
those who will meet in the parlors of the Lincoln House on Wednesday 
evening, the 18th, to congratulate you on the completion of your semi-cen- 
tennial connection with the Worcester County Press. Can it he fifty years 
since we were typographical devils, carrying papers, washing rollers, sorting 
pi and doing up the chores ? 

What little I know I learned in a Worcester printing office ; and, of 
greater value to me, I there acquired habits of industry, application and 
good behavior. When you count your semi-centennial friends, on Wednes- 
day night, reckon among the least important, yet the most sincerely cordial, 

Ben : Perley Poore. 



ADDRESS OF SENATOR HOAR. 

" The mantle of Elijah," said Col. Washburn, " fell upon 
Elisha ; the mantle of John Davis fell upon George F. Hoar, 
and who shall say it is not worthily worn ? We will now hear 
from Senator Hoar." The Senator was greeted with the heart- 
iest applause as he rose to respond. He said, the kindly feel- 
ing of all present for their host and his brother had already 
been expressed better than lie could do it, " I remember," he 
said, "many of the facts and incidents our guest has related. 
I came to Worcester just after the great campaign of 1848. 
Mr. Wall was one of my earliest friends. There were many 



* Maj. Poore died in Washington, May 29th, following, at 12.30 a. m., 
and his funeral took place at his ancestral homestead, Indian Hill, West 
Newbury, June 2. 



19 

free soilers in Worcester then, but they were not counted 
among- the best society of the city. With the exception of 
Judge Allen, John W. Wetiierell and Judge Chapin, who joined 
the movement somewhat later, I found no member of the bar 
among them. The tie that bound the younger men of the 
movement was strong, toidcr and al'fectiouatc, and my heart 
today warms toward one of those old free soilers as it docs to 
no other. I think it would be impossible to fuid an occasion 
since then when Caleb A. Wall and 1 have met upon the street 
without a hearty and cordial greeting. Our paths in life have 
been somewhat different, but each always felt he had a friend 
in the other he could always depend upon. 

" Mr. Wall is the senior representative of the press in Wor- 
cester. I feel that lew of us who do not go aliroad appreciate 
iiow much we owe to our press. Any one who has occasion 
to seek the papers of New York, or those of the western states, 
or of the middle and some others of the eastern states, has oc- 
casion to thank God that in the city in which he lives this 
great burning and shining light has shone pure ; that the men 
who have sent out to our doors morning and evening have laid 
before our children as they grew up the narrative of current 
history and opinion on current topics, which must largely in- 
fluence theirs, have been of such high sense of honor and in- 
structed and delicate conscience that they would disdain false- 
hood, dishonor and misrepresentation ; men who would be as 
sure as in them lay that the facts were true before they were 
written. And I say here, as I have said elsewhere, that the 
man who can belong to that great profession and resist the 
temptation to sensationalism, falsehood, low, petty scandal and 
malice, and presei've the character of a gentleman, is entitled 
more than any other to be counted the first citizen of any com- 
munity. It is a great function to lead public opinion in the 
paths of purity. To this great profession the guest 
of the evening has devoted, not always in the most con- 
spicuous place, his life for fifty years, He has given to this 
great journal, the Worcester Spy, with the greatest influence 
of any paper in New England, a great deal of the quality to 
3 



20 

which that influence is due. As the Bath footman said to Mr. 
Weller, ' You can always taste the Chalybeate flavor in it.' " 

Mr. Hoar then related an incident of his early career at the 
bar, suggested to him by the reminiscences of the guest's 
paper. Gov. Lincoln, he said, was always regarded as the em- 
bodiment of dignity in those days. He remembered a vener- 
able gentleman, Mr. Livermore of Sutton, then 90 years of age, 
conversing after some legal business, and inquiring about the 
various Worcester people. After asking for Levi Lincoln, lie 
said : " They say he has got to be a very respectable man. 
Why, I rememl)er when he was a terrible Jacobite." 

In conclusion, Mr. Hoar wished Mr. Wall many years of 
happiness and satisfaction in his connection with the press. 

Col. Washburn then read the following letter from the Rep- 
resentative in Congress from this district, Hon. John E. Rus- 
sell of Leicester : 

FROM HON. JOHN E. RUSSELL. 

Leicester, May 18th, 1887. 
Hon. John D. Washburn ; Dear Sir — I regret exceedingly that I am not 
well enough to leave home this evening to attend the jubilee in honor of Mr. 
Caleb A. Wall. I am under great obligation to him for his considerate and 
careful reporting and editing of my many careless and desultory speeches 
made from time to time during the past ten years. I confess there is some- 
thing sobering and repressing in the sight of an average reporter quietly 
marking one down and getting one's rambling remarks into the sober cos- 
tume of print ; perhaps this is a wholesome check, though I confess that it 
" freezes the genial current of the soul." I have, however, had such confi- 
dence in the discretion and good taste of Mr. Wall, that I always knew he 
would make me say pretty nearly the correct thing, whether my " faltering 
tongue " did so or not. Let me commend his gentle, kindly, industrious, 
old-world ways, and return my thanks to him for his good offices in the past, 
and to join in the hope that he may continue his work at least to the close 
of the century. 

With my best wishes for the success of the reception, and kind regard to 
Mr. James H. Wall. Very truly yours, 

John E. Russell. 

Col. Washburn said, he had hoped to call on Mr. Russell for 
a speech, as for our political sins he has been appointed to 



21 

inilo over us for the spaee of two years, and he will do so al)ly 
and well, and then, after the conclusion of his term, we shall 
resume the sovereignty. As Mr. Russell has taken jNIr. Rice's 
place in Congress, I think I will call on Mr. Rice to take Mr, 
Russell's place hero. 



ADDRESS OF HON. W. W. RICE. 

Hon. W. W. Rice was greeted with cheers as he rose to re- 
spond, saying: " I wont say I wish I could fill Mr. Russell's 
place, but I am very glad to represent him, for he has been a 
warm friend of mine for years. I am glad to speak for Lei- 
cester, and my heart warms especially to our host and chief 
guest of the evening, because they came from Leicester. I 
came from Leicester myself when I came to Worcester. I 
came in the fall of 1851. I seemed to be better off than i\[r. 
Wall, for I had 120 in my pocket, which I borrowed of a trust- 
ing friend in Leicester. I took my first meal in a sub-room on 
Maple street, and my right hand neighbor was the same who is 
my right hand neighbor tonight (Judge Adin Thayer), and he 
is as good a trencher man as ever. I knew Caleb A. Wall soon 
after I came, and have known him ever since. He was then 
editor of the Spy, and he was once editor and publisher, prin- 
ter and newsboy at one time. I wont sa.y he edited it more ably 
than it has Ikjcu edited, but he did it well." In conclusion, 
Mr. Rice expressed his hearty friendship and high appreciation 
of the character of the host and chief guest of the evening. 

Col. Washburji then read other letters from the followin<r 
gentlemen, regretting their inal)ility to Ix; present, in response 
to invitations. 

FROM GEN. WxM. S. LINCOLN. 

Worcester, May 18th, 1887. 
James H. Wall, Es(/. : My Dear Friend — I liave delayed to tlie very last 
possible moment the acknowledgment of your kind invitation to the semi- 
centennial observance of your brother's connection with the press, appointed 
for this evening, in the hope that I could send you an acceptance, and wiiat 
would be better, at least for myself, join tlie party engaged in the celcbra- 



22 

tion. But a bad cold which has troubled me foi- weeks will not be quieted^ 
and I must deny myself the anticipated pleasure. I do this the more reluc- 
tantly because I realize that you and I are the veterans of this field, not 
lagging, I trust, superftuo-us on the stag.e. Accept my heartiest congratu- 
lations upon the happy event you celebrate, and my earnest wish that you 
wont miss seriously my old face among, the many which will surround you,, 
and a sincere hope for the long continuance of a life whi«h has been so 
prosperous, so honorable, and so useful. 

And believe me always, your sincere friend, 

FROM JAMES S. W0ODWORTH. 

Worcester, May 18th, 1887. 
To James H. Wall, Esij. : Dear Sir — Your invitation to be present at th» 
Lincoln House this eve at a social reception tendered to Mr. C.^ A. Wall, in 
commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of his connection with the 
Press, meets with my cordial approval. On account of physical infirmities 
you will please excuse my personal a,ttendance, which, otherwise, would 
give me much pleasure to be present. 

Be pleased to extend to my long known personal friend, C A^ Wall, Esq., 
my sincere and hearty congratulations for his successful labors these past 
fifty years as a journalist and historian, and may his health and life be pro- 
longed to a green old age. Fraternally yours, 

Jam-es S. WoonwoRTH. 

Letters regretting tbeir inability to be present were also re- 
ceived from Judge Devens of the Supreroe Court, liev. Rush 
R. Sbippen of Washington, D. 0., Hon. E. B. Stoddard, Hon. 
George M. Rice, Postmaster James E. Estabrook, Col. W. S. B. 
Hopkins, Albert Tolman, Esq., Joseph H. Walker, Esq.^ 
Lewis Barnard, Esq., Wm. G. Strong, and others. 

Col. Washburn quoted from Alexander Pope : 

" Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride > 
They had no poet, and they died. 
In vain they schemed, in vain they bled, 
They had no poet, and arc dead." 

He said tlie occasion would not be without its poem, which 
was written by Mr. John H. Jewitt of the Gazette and would 
be read by Mr. Geo. A. Stearns, Jr., of the Spy. Mr. Stearng- 
then read with excellent effect the following Poem. 



1S37 1887. 



©edidkted to tl)e Serqi-Cer\tei]i\ikl Bai^quct 

IN HONOR OF 



CONFIDENTIAL. 

A poem was wanted this banquet to grace J 

Most diligent search revealed not a trace 

Of Poet in Worcester, hence, this lesser plan — = 

To farm out the job to a newspaper man. 

The dailies and weeklies were ready betimes, 

With scribblers galore, all chock full of ryhmeSj, 

To suit tljis occasion, and thus it befel 

They all got to wrangling about who should tell 

This story, to-night, and to save discontent 

At last 'twas decided to flip up a cent. 

Up went the copper, — to the writer's surprise 

The lot fell to him, — = the Gazette won the prize. 

And this is the story, — ■ a legend in rhyme — 
Though Pegasus falters, the theme is sublime, 
Unfolding a record that's writ on Time's Scroll, 
Indelible there, while the centuries roll, 

THE LEGEND. 

Old Time, with his hour glass, while counting the years 

Of life, with its record of hopes and of fears, 

Its joys and its sorrows, successes, defeats, 

' — The ceaseless old story which History repeats, — ' 

Aweary had grown of his task, and to find 

A trusty and capable " sub " to his mind. 

Dropped in on the Spy, in its Argus-eyed den, 

And found our friend Caleb still wielding his pen. 



24 

'* Ah ! Caleb, old fellow, a grip of the hand, 
Delighted to see you ! — The gods must have planned 
This fortunate meeting, for me, I'll be blest, 
I want a vacation ; come, give me a rest, 
You tireless mortal, just fill in the gap 
For a decade or two, whilst I take a nap. 
The man of all men, at last I have found ; 
They'll never suspect that I'm not around, 
As usual, Caleb, for you've got the grip 
On all that I know, and can give 'em the " tip." 
Long practice has made you expert with the score 
Of life's shifting games ;— - a few innings moi-e 
Will win you the title of Time's Referee, 
The Champion Recorder, Historian per se ; 
So turn my old hour glass, your annals complete, 
I'll snooze ! — and George Bancroft can take a back seat. 

Now all the old fellows who know Caleb Wall, 

Must know that he never has shirked duty's call. 

A kindly eye beams 'neath his gray grisly locks, 

Ilis heart, well, his heart is as big as an ox. 

Of course he said " Yes," in his good natured way, 

And took up Time's burden, as if it were play. 

Time loafed. Caleb toiled in his stead, — he toils yet, 

To put upon record what others forget ; 

To keep the old memories, old places, old names, 

Still bright on Time's pages ; to score up the games 

Dead yesterday saw, side by side, in array 

With those Worcester plays on the field of To-day. 

How faithful his service, all know who can read 

Where he's winnowed the chaff, preservmg the seed. 

With much that's undying his name will be blent, 

For he's used every talent that nature has lent, 

To rescue and save from oblivion's clutch, 

Restore to the living, by magical touch 

Of his painstaking pen, the treasures of old. 

Safe garnered, for others to have and to hold. 

Nor solely for bread hath he wrought long and well 

For full fifty years, for love's charmed spell 

Hath hallowed his task, and crowned his ripe age 

With good friends, a good name ; earth's best heritage. 



25 

Then, IIi{), Ilip, Hmrali I no trouble we'll fear, 

We'll toast him to-night. He'll embalm us, 'tis elear, 

In History's pages, and hand our names down 

To far distant ages. Posterity's crown 

He will win, in a night, for us one and all 

— The friends and well-wishers of Caleb A. Wall ! 

INCIDENTAL. 

Hush ! A word for our host, who gathered us here 
To honor his brother, and share his good clieer. 
AVo know him of old, as a man among men. 
Not one of our craft, — but who writes with a pen 
His name in a checkbook, on bond, or on deed, 
[His autograph pays for this bountiful '• feed,"] 
That's honored for all which the paper implies ; 
Whose word is as good as his bond, till he dies ; 
Whose history, if written for three score and ten, 
Would need a whole volume, and worthier pen. 
Yet, to point out the moral adorning this tale, 
How honesty, thrift, and good sense will prevail, 
And yield a rich harvest, this fact we'll relate : 
Our host here was born to an indigent state. 
But made his own fortune, nor wronged any man, 
Never hankered for office. Instead, 'twas his plan 
Of life to kee[) every promise and word ; 
To mind his own business : — And who ever heard 
Of his failing to do so ? That's James H. Wall ! 
As every one knows him, who knows him at all.. 

Long life to the veteran whose busy career 

Has crowned him successful ; whose life has no fear 

Of want, or dishonor ; no secrets to hide. 

As he waits on the shore to go out with the tide. 

Then echo, ye walls, to the Walls ye surround ! 
" May brotherly love and good cheer still abound ; " 
Once more then. Hip! Hip ! Let us rill to the toast 
" To Caleb and .James — Historian and Host ! " 

AVHAT CALEB REMEMBERS. 

What Caleb remembers ? From the feast of the years. 
Some scraps have been saved, for use it appears 



26 

At banquets like this. Let us nibble a bit 
On well-seasoned chestnuts, — though scanty of wit, — 
They may yield some food for reflection, or move 
To smiles, and thus moral digestion improve. 

What Caleb remembers, would make quite a store 

Of family recipes ; guides to explore 

The art of right living; a digest of Time 

For statesmen to chew on, for scribblers to rhyme 

And wring nutrition : — in a word we might say 

The Yesterday's viands warmed up for to-day. 

Our Caleb remembers, in life's early morn, 
Our modern improvements were mostly unborn. 
In stages, the wealthy, through pasture and wood 
Went shopping to Boston ; if walking was good 
The poor went on foot. How blankly they'd stare 
At our express trains and our one dollar fare. 
Or Raymond's Excursions, North, South, East or West, 
With Drawing-room, Sleeper, Buffet and the rest 1 

Our Caleb remembers the Pony Express 
Was lightning despatch, in haste or distress, 
Ere Telegraph Cables encircled the globe. 
The Telephone ! — torture unknown to old Job 
Or else he'd have weakened, his patience worn out 
While pretty girls flirted and left him to shout, — 
All these comforts and trials, this worry and haste, 
Are ours, who have life, but no minutes to waste. 

Our Caleb remembers, when he learned his trade, 
Hand presses were modern, the fastest then made ; 
Five hundred an hour, and one side at a time ; 
Despatches by post from a far away clime 
Meant Albany then while the news from Bombay, 
Instead of ten minutes, ten months on the way ! 
Their weekly editions for a year, by hand power, 
Could be printed to-day in less than an hour 
On presses that run the big dailies we read. 
Ah ] how we've outstrip'd those old fogies — in speed. 

Our Caleb remembers, finance in those days 
Was saving and safety, and old fashioned ways 
Of honesty, thrift, and to keep best your own ; 



27 

Not promising bread, to repay with a stone ; 

Not haste to get riches, to pamper false pride ; 

But work, slow and sure, earn and save till you died. 

Stock gambling and Futures, and Corners in food, 

Reward would have found in Stocks made of wood ; 

The popular route wasn't Canada tlien, 

Nor were places of trust filled by travelling men. 

Our Caleb remembers, in matters of State 

The people concerned were allowed to debate ; 

To choose from their number the fittest, to send 

Their cause to uphold, their rights to defend. 

Sound statesmanship, genius and brains, then controlled 

The honors, Bonanza kings buy with their gold. 

The lubby existed, no doubt in those days. 

And worked for its schemes in legitimate ways. 

For Beverly boodle, — to bring the point home — 

And cheek to apply it, the da\' hadn't come! 

Men strove with great questions, had courage to face 

Unpopular issues, nor held it disgrace 

To stand and be counted for Right every time, 

'Gainst mob or the " party's" political slime. 

Our Caleb remembers when National tasks 

Were borne on the shoulders of men without masks ; 

No coddling, or truckling to socialist mob ; 

No premature pensions, put up for a job ; 

No surplus, maintained by duties imposed 

For needless protection, and avenues closed 

To fair competition, in cost to produce 

Nine-tenths of our needs for consumption and use ; 

No cry, universal, for some simpler plan 

To protect fellow-man from laws made by man. 

"Utopian"? Possibly! Mere waste of breath, 

When statesmen (alleged) legislate us to death ! 

Our Caleb remembers, — stay! perchance we're rash 
To serve you so much of this dubious hash. 
We'll therefore, omit all such intricate woes 
As Interstate Commerce, which nobody knows ; 
Reformed Civil Service, which both parties claim ; 
The Coinage of Silver, nobody to blame ; 



28 

The Mormons in Utah ; the poor Indian " Lo; " 

The old bloodj shirt, washed in tears long ago ; 

And divers grave questions the papers discuss, 

To make more a muddle, and muddle the muss. 

The shitild has two sides, we'll gladly admit, 

— The bird flutters most, however, that's hit ; — 

And, if it will soothe any wounded bird here. 

We'll own that the prospect improves with each year. 

The reason is plain, manifest beyond doubt, 

The people are finding the bl — k rascals out ! 

Just wait a few years until that party wins 

"Which means to Reform, — to reform its own sins! 

Our Caleb remembers, — and so does the scribe, — 

That life is misspent which is all diatribe, 

And therefore craves pardon, and begs to remind 

The growlers in this world, a better to find ! 

For all who will read Caleb's volume aright 

Will find that it pays to " keep honor bright." 

Don't crowd, fellow-mourners ; Be true ; Be a man ; 

Press forward ; Look backward ; Improve on the plan ! 

This, then, is the nub we've been trying to borrow : 

Let yesterday's serve for to-day and to-morrow ! 

For brotherly greetings, and this friendly call, 
Our Caleb will kindly remember you all. 



When the poem was finished, the hands of the clock were 
pointing to nearly eleven, and the chairman felt obliged from 
the lateness of the hour, to dismiss the company, which he did 
in a few pleasant words. He said that there were many 
others whom he had intended to call up, and lie named among 
them Judges Aldrich and Thayer, the proprietors of the Spy 
and Gazette, the Worcester papers with which Mr. Caleb A. Wall 
had been connected, and Mr. George P. Brinley, who was 
present to represent the estates for wliich Mr. James H. Wall 
had so long cared. Having made a good impression and in 
fact achieved a great success, he said it was better the company 
should now break up. 



29 

The company tlicii separated after a season of uiuixual en- 
joyment and a right glorious good time. 



Since the entertainment, the follow^ing complimentary letters 
have been received : 

FROM JUDGE DEVENS. 

Boston, May 20tli, 1887. 

Ci\lob A. Wall, Es((.. Dear Sir : — I was very sorry to be unable to accept 
tlie kind invitation of your brother to attend the celebration of the 50th an- 
niversary of your connection with the Press. 

I have read with the greatest interest your most agreeable paper in which 
you have given a hasty review of those years> I am obliged to you or your 
brother, (I cannot tell which) for having so kindly sent me a copy of the Spy 
containing it. All of us who have been connected with active life in AVor- 
cester are indebted to you for many acts of attention and kindness. 

Be assured that I wish that you may yet enjoy many long and happy years 
of health, comfort and usefulness. Yours very truly, 

Charles Devkns. 



FROM H. M. SMITH OF THE HOME JOURNAL. 

Home Journal Office, 
Worcester, May 19th, 1887. 
Dear Friend Wall — I was unal)le to be among your friends at the Lin- 
coln House on Wednesday evening, and my disability came too late to allow 
otherwise acknowledgment of the kind invitation sent me. Let me congrat- 
ulate you heartily on the pleasant and well deserved event, and extend to 
jou my own best wishes from the standpoint (tf one who knows pretty well 
the labors of a working journalist. Your anniversary was a most capitally 
deserved and well observed event. Very truly yours, 

HeNRV M. S.MITII. 



FROM GEORGE W. BENTLEY, ESQ. 

Jacksonville, Tami'a & Kev West Railway, 
General Manager's Office, 
Jacksonville, Fla., June Gth, 1887. 
■Caleb A> Wall, Esq. , Worcester, Mass., Dear Sir — I received from vour- 
self, or some other goo<i friend, the Worcester Spy, which had an account of 
your " reception," and also had your interesting reminiscences of AVorces- 
ter. For what you so kindly said of me I beg you will accept my sincere 
thanks. I said to an old friend, who stood by me as I read the paper, that 



30 

it would hardly have been a feather in my cap here some years ago to hare 
published such an account. But times have changed ; old things have 
passed away ; for, when I handed what you said of me to the manager of 
one of the morning papers, he read it through, and then said, " Good for 
you." * * Very truly yours, 

G. W. Bentley. 



FKOM HEZEKIAH CONANT, ESQ. 

Pawtucket, R. I., June 14, 1887. 
My Dear Friend, Caleb A. Wall — * * * I received papers containing 
an account of your fifty years of service in the office of the Spy. But you 
must know that I was the roller boy that inked the first edition of a daily 
paper printed in Worcester, and that was the Daily Transcript. Julius L. 
Clarke was editor, and it was printed by Estey & Evans in the office of the 
Worcester County Crazette, on a Washington liand press, and I think Enoch 
B. Briggs was the pressman. Mr. Estey and Mr. Clarke are still living, I 
understand, and I would like to see them, for they like yourself must be 
landmarks at this time. Yours truly, 

H. CONANT. 

Mr. Conant left Estey & Evans^ printing office and went in- 
to the machinists' business. He is now a proprietor of one of 
tlie largest manufacturing establishments at Pawtucket, R. 1. 
He has generously remembered his native town, Dudley ^ by 
the endowment of his Alma Mater, Nichols Academy, to the 
amount of $50,000, in tlie prosperity of which he lias a per- 
petual interest. 

The first issue of the Daily Transcript was June 23, 1845, 
and of the Daily Spy 29 days later, July 22, 18f5. May 1, 
1847, the Transcript establishment was sold to John Milton 
Earle and it became merged in the Spy. April 1,1851, another 
paper named Daily Transcript was started and the name 
changed Jan. 1, 18b(>, to Evening Gazette. 



Besides the al)Ove, numerous congi-atulatory letters have 
been received from va: ious parties, among them one from an 
old schoolmate at the Friends School in Providence, R. L, Dr. 
J. B. Holder, who has been for the last 17 years Curator in the 
American Museum of Natural History in Central Park, New 
York City, in which letter he refers to several other school- 
mates of fifty years ago in Providence. 



Corqrpliir|eT|fafy X^)tidevS^ of ll^e 'Pi'e^^^. 



From tlic Worcester Etenimj Oazetlc, Man 19lh. 

It is a rare event, amid tlie inutationf< of the World, especially rare ui\der 
the changeful and uncertain character of ximerican life, and most remarka- 
ble in the exhausting profession of journalism, that a man can look back 
upon 50 years spent in one calling and in one community. When such a 
career has been spent in a semi-public calling, and its consummation is ac- 
companied by the universal good will of the community, based on a])precia- 
tion of elfort, recognition of merit and acknowledgement of obligation, it is 
most fitting tliat it should be marked by a red letter. Such a letter was 
most conspicously affixed, last evening, to the history of Mr. Caleb A. Wall, 
who had just completed a half century of faithful and arduous duty in 
connection with journalism in Worcester County. 

The recognition of the anniversary is due to the fraternal generosity of 
Mr. James H. Wall of B iston, a brother of the jourualist, and who spent 
all of his own active life in an honorable business career in Worcester. It 
took the form of a reception at tlie Lincoln House, and brought together a 
remarkable and unique asseml»lage of representative men of Worcester, in 
which the gray heads of tlie men of old Worcester were the crowning inter- 
est and honor. 



From Ike Worcester Daily Times, May I9th, 
Caleb A. Wall was a happy man last night. The good old historian and 
reporter was honored by a ban((uet at the Lincoln IIou<e as a testimonial to 
Ills worth and services as a local historian and newspaper man for the past 
half century in this county. The reception was tendered by his brother, 
Mr. James U. Wall now of Boston, but for 40 years previous of this city. 
The occasion was graced by a notable gathering of Worcester's most distin- 
guished citizens. 

Fifty years of labor is a long period. But when it has been, with hardly 
a break, devoted to gatliering and sifting the news for the information and 
benefit of f'ellow-men, a recognition of the public favors necessarily conferred, 
is most deserved. Fifty years of journalism on the Worcester county press, 
covers events of the greatest importance, botii in local and national affairs 
as well as in journalism. The individual who has been in position to keep 
abreast of the events during all these years possesses merit, and the notable 



32 

gathering at the Llncohi House last evening paid its respect and esteem to 
the veteran journalist, Caleb A. Wall, who has rounded out a life of fifty 
years in journalism. 

From the Worcester Home Journal, May 19th. 

A. very pleasant and notable event which Worthily honored the recipient 
of the testimonial, was the complimentary gathering of 150 well-known cit* 
izens at the Lincoln House on Wednesday evening, to do honor to Caleb A. 
Wall, Esq., of the Spy corps, the occasion being the 50th anniversary of his 
connection with the press of this city. A brother, James H. Wall, Esq., 
was the founder of the feast, and the whole affair was mo.st creditable to 
our newspaper brother honored. Mr. Wall s long and useful career has 
been solidly built into the half century's progress of events in this city and 
region, by hi.s labor, as annalist. Always industrious and scrupulous, with 
sympathies strongly declared on the right side, Mr. Wall has represented the 
better type of reportorial journalism, in distinction from that which prefers 
to seek its best rewards in scandals and sensations. 

In his remarks on this occasion Senator Hoar took occasion to pay a high 
compliment to the general high character of the pi'ess of our city in this re- 
spect, and to strongly com2Dliment Mr. Wall for his share of the work, pro- 
tracted through so many years. 

A principal and appropriate feature of the evening was an extended paper 
from Mr. Wall himself, a general review of the fifty years since April 18th, 
1837, when he came to Worcester, then a bright town of 7000 inhabitants, 
to begin his newspaper work. 

Mr. Wall has been a voluminous and pains-taking local historian ; his 
published volume of "Reminiscences" is a standard work, and we learn 
he is preparing material for a second volume. 



From, the Welisttr Times, May 19th. 
Caleb A. Wall, who for fifty years has been connected with the Worces- 
ter Spy office as printer and reporter. Was tendered a reception at the Lin- 
coln House, Wednesday evening, and many distinguished men were present, 
including Senator Hoar, Hon. W. W. Rice and others of hardly less intel- 
lect. Mr. Wall read an historical address of great interest, wliich was pub- 
lished in full in Thursday's Spy. Although a veteran reporter, he is still in 
the front ranks as an interesting writer of celebrations, academy gradua* 
tions, historical compilations ; in short, he is apt at anything of a literary 
character and his friends hope it will be many yearis before he retires from 
the services of the Worcester Spy. He is well known throughout Worces- 
ter county by all who see him. 

From the Clinton Courant, May 21st. 
The completion of fifty yeai\s as newspaper editor by the veteran reporter 
Caleb A. Wall, of the Worcester Spy, wa,s celebrated by senators, judges, 



33 

clergymen, bankers, and newspaper men of Worcester, Inst Wednesday eve- 
ning, where Mr. Wall read an liistorical address; it was a rare event and 
the compliment to Mr. AVall's indnstry and faithfulness in his line of cHbrt 
was eminently deserved. 



From the Danlelsonville {Ct.) Transcript. 
A rare and pleasing Inmor to an industrious laborer in journalism was 
paid in Worcester, AVednesday evening. May 18th., when Calel) A. AVall, a 
reporter on the Spy, was given a ban((uet at the Lincoln House by his 
brother, James H. Wall, now a resident of Boston, at once wealthy and e.s- 
tee'ned. Tiiere were 180 invitations issued, and the company comprised a 
strong representation of Worcester's oldest and most prominent citizens. 
Col. John D. AVashburn presided; Senator Hoar, Hon. W. W. Rice, and 
others talked ; and Caleb A. Wall, with 50 years in journalism and printing 
behind him, read an address, while his brother, the host, also spoke. There 
was also a ready and ingenious poem, written by John H. Jewett of the Ga- 
zette, and read by Geo. A. Stearns, Jr., of the Spy, in which the hero of 
the hour was honored for his fidelity, integrity and especially for his service 
to local history and antiquities. 



Among the oldest persons who were unahle to be present on 
account of age and infirmities, in response to invitations ex- 
tended to them, were the venerable Joseph Pratt and Horatio 
rhelps, each in his 81)th year ; and the venerable Henry W. 
Miller now in his 87th year ; and also the two oldest printers 
in the city, Daniel Ward and Henry J. Howland. Their ab- 
sence, though necessitated, was sincerely regretted by them, 
and feelingly sympathized with by those present on the occa- 
sion. An account of these and other old printers in the city, 
with a history of the different newspapers, and other pubhca- 
tions, and printing offices in Worcester from the time of the 
first printer, Isaiah Thomas, may be found in the " Reminis- 
cences of Worcester," published in 1877, by Caleb A. Wall. 

A few more copies of the " Reminiscences" spoken of above re- 
main unsold and may be had of the author. Since that record, within 
a few years, the Daily Times and Telegram and weekly Home Journal 
have been started. A second volume, with additional historical facts 
and reminiscences, including further genealogies of old Worcester fam- 
ilies will be published in due time by Mr. Wall. 



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LE '09 



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